RCMP have arrested and charged a 30-year-old man in connection with a hit-and-run collision that left an officer seriously injured last month.
The crash occurred Oct. 19 just west of Regina after White Butte RCMP responded to a disturbance at an event centre.
A 56-year-old Regina man was arrested following the call, but as three RCMP officers stood on Sherwood Forest Road with the arrested man, an SUV drove towards them.
One RCMP officer was in the ditch off the roadway while the second officer grabbed the arrested man and tried to get out of the way. The third officer and the arrested man were struck by the SUV, which also sideswiped an unmarked police vehicle.
Shots were fired at the vehicle in an attempt to stop it, and though the vehicle slowed down, it managed to drive away from the scene.
Const. Keith Bennett, 42, was struck by the vehicle and is still recovering in hospital. The arrested man standing by officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A second White Butte RCMP constable also suffered minor injuries as a result of the incident.
The SUV believed to be involved in the incident was seized that day, but an arrest was not made until this week when RCMP charged Blake Wahl, 30, with one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
The vehicle was seized from Wahl’s rural home near Pense, where was arrested Tuesday.
Wahl was not the SUV’s registered owner and the vehicle was not stolen at the time of the crash, according to RCMP. He has been released on a promise to appear in Regina provincial court Jan. 21.
